Valor check-in time

[groundloop]

I have a cruise coming up in a couple of weeks on Valor out of New Orleans and am wondering about check-in times.  I haven't sailed from New Orleans in several years, the last time there we had a check-in time around noon and the lines were horrendous.

 

For our past several cruises I've played the game of staying up late the night before online check-in to snag an early time slot, only to get to the port and sit in the waiting area for an hour or more before boarding, with the crowds made worse by the fact that they don't keep folks out of the terminal who show up an hour or more early. 

 

I realize that various ports are run differently, so has anyone who sailed out of New Orleans recently had a later check-in time and avoided the mad rush?  I'm thinking of trying 1 PM or so with the thought that most of the crush is over and we'd be able to go straight to our cabin by the time we board.

 

Thoughts?

[keels81]

I have an A2 check in time at 10:30 tomorrow, so I’ll let you know! I just booked this cruise on Tuesday, so my options were (oddly enough) 10:30, 12:30 and 1.

[Lee Cruiser]

The last time we sailed out of N.O. was in January 2020 just before Covid.  We are platinum and had the earliest check in.  They did have a line for those who had arrived early and were not letting them in.  It was kind of chaotic though because it was not clear that this was the line for those who had arrived too early. We finally asked someone and they told us.   We had to go around that line to get in.

 

Before turning platinum several years ago we did what you mentioned and arrived around 1:15 p.m. and it was so simple.  There were no lines at all.  We breezed right through security, check in, and right on to the ship.  Because we were arriving then we also carried on our own luggage and were able to go straight to our room and unpack.  Again, that was pre-covid, so I'm not sure how it would be now, but it was great back then.

 

Our check in for next week is A1 at 10:00 a.m.  Hopefully it won't be too chaotic then, but we shall see.

[groundloop]

36 minutes ago, keels81 said:

I have an A2 check in time at 10:30 tomorrow, so I’ll let you know! I just booked this cruise on Tuesday, so my options were (oddly enough) 10:30, 12:30 and 1.

 

I'll be interested in hearing how it goes.  Also what time they let you into your cabin (I'm assuming 1:30).

[keels81]

So, we got to the terminal at 10:45 and by the time we were through security and walking to check-in (maybe 10 minutes later), they were calling boarding groups in E and then the guy just said “all call for general boarding”. 
 

YMMV but I would think anytime after 11-11:30 is gonna be a ghost town unless the bill of passengers are still in the city exploring — FWIW it’s in the 50s and raining, so I wouldn’t be out and about but just me.

 

The hot tubs are steaming and bubbling — wishing I’d worn my swimsuit on the ship!

[groundloop]

2 hours ago, keels81 said:

 

 

The hot tubs are steaming and bubbling — wishing I’d worn my swimsuit on the ship!

 

That would certainly be a nice way to kill the time before being able to get in the cabin.

 

Interesting about the quick boarding, hopefully it wasn't just an anomaly.  

[Tiger0613]

Monday 11/29/21

5 days

10:00am - 10:30am arrival time

The line moved quickly, and boarding started at about 11:15am.

 

Thursday 12/23/21

4 days

1:00pm - 1:30pm arrival time

The line was horrendous.  It was crawling at best.

 

[groundloop]

5 minutes ago, Tiger0613 said:

Monday 11/29/21

5 days

10:00am - 10:30am arrival time

The line moved quickly, and boarding started at about 11:15am.

 

Thursday 12/23/21

4 days

1:00pm - 1:30pm arrival time

The line was horrendous.  It was crawling at best.

 

 

Just curious, was the departure time 3:30 CST for both of these cruises?

[Kbeth93]

What is the general time that we are allowed in our rooms if anyone knows? The upgrade fairy blessed my husband and I with a suite so wasn't sure if we were allowed in earlier to the room?

[pantherpaw]

We sailed this past Thanksgiving day on the Valor. Our check-in time was 10:30am. We arrived at the port around 10am and thought we'd have to wait but no one paid any attention to our time slot. It took about 15 minutes to get through security and another 10 minutes at the check in counter. We then waited about 30 minutes until they called our boarding group. 

One thing we noticed is the check in times seemed to not matter at all because we saw people waiting to board with check in times between 10am and 2pm so they clearly did not prevent anyone from entering before their assigned time slot

Once on board, the rooms were not open until 1:30 - although we did witness lots of people pushing past the crews getting the luggage to the rooms. In one case we watched a guy push the luggage cart back onto an elevator to move it out of his way so his family could get to the hallway to go to their room at around 1pm (There were a lot of incredibly rude people on this cruise)

[Tiger0613]

16 hours ago, groundloop said:

 

Just curious, was the departure time 3:30 CST for both of these cruises?

On paper, yes.  They both actually left at least an hour later.

Edited January 22, 2022 by Tiger0613

[halterk]

Been on 2 cruises out of New Orleans since Covid.  Once on the Valor and once on the Glory.  Both times no one checked your boarding time, so you could go whenever.

 

On the Valor in November I believe we got there around 11 to 11:30 and the lines were very long.  We probably didn't move for a good 15-20 minutes at one point.

 

On the Glory in January (last week) we got there around 12-12:30 and the line to get in through security was very short.  The line to checkin was a bit longer (20 mins maybe), and then we had to wait another 10 mins or so until they called our group to board the ship.  **  I will say that this cruise was only at about 50% capacity, so I'm sure that had a big impact on how fast the check in line was moving.

[wikoffclan]

We sailed Valor out of NO Jan 6-10 four day cruise. Check in time of 10:30 - 11, boarding group B-1. The first check in for confirming boarding passes and Covid tests was fairly quick. Then through the bag check and body scan. Did not see or hear of any Platinum separate line but my husband's cane got us steered to a shorter check in line. The line to board moved steadily and we were on board from car to ship in about 40 minutes.

This cruise was also at about 50%. We were told by several crew members that there were 1600 passengers on board. The surprising thing was that our Cabin steward had 37 (!) cabins to service.